Garrett's Five-Year Deal the Right Move

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ARLINGTON, TX - JANUARY 04: Quarterback Tony Romo #9 of the Dallas Cowboys celebrates with head coach Jason Garrett of the Dallas Cowboys after the Cowboys beat the Detroit Lions 24-20 during a NFC Wild Card Playoff game at AT&T Stadium on January 4, 2015 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)

As we always talked about with former Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington, there is a lot to be said for a coach in professional sports who the players would run through a wall for and love playing for — it's a huge part of leading a bunch of guys in their mid-20s moreso than the teaching aspect of coaching.

Say what you want about Jason Garrett, and a lot of the public sentiment has changed after the Cowboys' 13-5 season, but one thing you have to say is that Garrett has the respect of the Dallas Cowboys players and has guys who would do anything for him.

Now, Garrett is locked up for five more years after agreeing to a new deal late Tuesday, and this is big for many reasons.

The biggest reason this was the right move is just for the sake of continuity of a good thing going. The Cowboys made tremendous strides this year under Garrett in a year which was pretty much a make-or-break one for him. Continuity is something this franchise hasn't had for a long, long time — pretty much since the end of the 90s Cowboys dynasty with a possible exception being the tenure of Bill Parcells.

2014 Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders

Another reason this is a good move? Garrett has found a perfect balance of letting Jerry Jones do his thing and get his credit by putting his hands in the pot while also keeping an identity as a head coach and not letting Jones get mixed up in that aspect of the team. The last Cowboys coach who had this much latitude was Parcells, and we all saw how that ended. But Jones has a genuine love and loyalty for Garrett, who has grown a lot the last two seasons after being able to concentrate on being a head coach and not a head coach/offensive play-caller.

The move is the right one, and one that Garrett has earned. Funny how tunes change, but the tune on Garrett didn't change without Garrett, himself, doing a little changing, as well.